The Dec. 4 breakfast program by the Environmental Professionals Network compares the environmental sustainability of real vs. artificial Christmas trees. Find details and register to attend. (Photo: Getty Images.)
At Home
Ahead to a resilient, sustainable future
Mark your calendar for Ohio State’s second annual Community Engagement Conference, set for Jan. 23-24 in Columbus. The theme: “Partnering for a Resilient and Sustainable Future.” Former Irish president Mary Robinson will be the keynote speaker. CFAES’s OSU Extension outreach arm is one of the event’s sponsors. Find out more and register.
How to ID Ohio’s aquatic invasive species
Want some good cold-weather reading? Ohio State’s Ohio Sea Grant program offers a 160-page PDF e-book called Ohio Field Guide to Aquatic Invasive Species, with color photos for identifying aquatic invasive species and tips for preventing their introduction and spread. Featured are fish, plants, algae, mussels, crustaceans and others, including bighead carp, silver carp, didymo (an alga also called “rock snot”), fishhook waterflea, red swamp crayfish and Eurasian watermilfoil, to name just a few.
Ohio Sea Grant Specialist Tory Gabriel and Eugene Braig, CFAES aquatic ecosystems program director, helped produce the guide, whose introduction says, “Identifying and preventing the introduction and spread of aquatic invasive species are the keys to averting long-term ecosystem damage and ensuring the highest probability of effective control.”
What’s killing Ohio’s beech trees?
There’s a mystery affliction killing American beech trees in Ohio, and scientists with CFAES are on the case, hoping to find the cause. (Photo: Getty Images.)
How to boost bicycle commuting
“Let’s make biking work!” It’s a worthwhile goal for traffic, environmental and health reasons, and it’s the title of the Thursday, Nov. 15, breakfast program by the Environmental Professionals Network (EPN).
‘What kind of world is this when a biologist needs to be scared to tell the truth?’
CFAES’s 2018 Environmental Film Series continues at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 19, with “A River Below.” It’s the story of two South American activists’ attempts to use media coverage to help save the endangered Amazon River dolphin, but who face ethical and moral issues along the way.
“What sacrifices are acceptable in the battle for this endangered animal, and what are the grander social, economical and environmental issues involved?” Cara Cusumano, Tribeca Film Festival programming director, asks in writing about the film on the festival’s website. “Mark Grieco’s surprising documentary digs into the ethics of activism in the modern media age.”
Watch the trailer above. Get full details about the screening.
Are harmful algal blooms making people sick?
The 2018 Environmental Film Series sponsored by CFAES’s School of Environment and Natural Resources continues tonight, Monday, Nov. 5, with “Toxic Puzzle,” a look at how harmful algal blooms may be affecting human health, specifically as possible triggers for Lou Gehrig’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Watch the trailer above.
‘A model of collaborative problem-solving’
Ohio State’s Ohio Sea Grant program has released a third-year update on the Harmful Algal Bloom Research Initiative, a statewide effort that seeks solutions to Ohio’s harmful algal blooms. Scientists from CFAES are some of the many involved.
New algal bloom effort has CFAES partners
Toledo Blade writer Tom Henry recently reported on Bowling Green State University’s new Lake Erie Center for Fresh Waters and Human Health. The center aims, he wrote, “to greatly expand how scientists investigate harmful algal blooms.”
Nine other universities and institutions, including Ohio State and its Ohio Sea Grant program, are cooperating with Bowling Green on the center.
Justin Chaffin, research coordinator for CFAES’s Stone Laboratory, will be one of the scientists involved with the center.
This is probably good news or something
“Despite news reports to the contrary, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has not warned people against dressing chickens in Halloween costumes.” (Photo: Getty Images.)